“This is not 2008. We gotta assume every single day that we need to build something new – better, faster and sleeker. Republicans are going to be fired up to take on President Obama … The 2008 campaign was the most special thing a lot of us have ever been a part of. But if we just run that same campaign, … we stand a good chance of losing. We’ve gotta run a new campaign …. [I]n 2012, we have the opportunity to make 2008 look prehistoric [still historic!, I see – Mcat]– to do it at a bigger scale, to do it with new technologies … and really reinvent this campaign. Grassroots will RUN this campaign. … We ought NOT to act like an incumbent. We oughta act like an insurgent campaign.” Video, PDF of charts

The 2012 supporter swag should include airsickness bags and those mini-packets of facial tissues, if you ask me.

Or some of those leftover DVF totes that Pelosi was pushing. They can turn them inside out and sew on some transfers of people eating out of trashcans, or of people pushing around shop carts full of one-time home items. Something like that…

ugh, what an absolute creep, … from the pictures I’ve seen, he even looks like one, face permanently frozen into that smarmy, I’m purchasable, advertisement. Primary ambition? apparently owning the most powerful car in town:

I spend the money, so everything’s gotta go through me to get spent, which is the best job ever,” Messina, the keeper of the budget, told me. “It’s like getting the keys to a fucking Ferrari.” [2008 link

yeah really, and I guess us traitors need be careful, lest we end up in a neighboring cell to Bradley Manning. Only obscenely paid pundit whores like Rush can criticize without being threatened, in this country. The minute any of us repeat one of his extremely rare truisms, we’ll get hammered.

…major U.S. weapons manufacturer, Honeywell, pled guilty last month to illegally storing hazardous radioactive waste without a permit. The company kept highly radioactive mud in drums in the open air behind its uranium enrichment plant in Metropolis, Illinois. According to a former Honeywell environmental safety officer, the toxic waste leaked into the Ohio River, which runs next to the plant.

Workers at the facility say they notified Honeywell of the problem on many occasions. Many are members of the United Steelworkers union and feel this particular incident led to the company’s desire to bust their union. More than 200 workers at the Metropolis plant have been out of work since last June due to stalled contract negotiations with the company on workplace safety, economic and seniority issues. Dozens of workers protested at the Honeywell shareholder meeting on Monday. Honeywell did not return a call from Democracy Now!, but it released a statement that its, quote, “goal remains to reach a fair and equitable settlement with the union.”

With the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plants in Japan, some people ask: can nuclear power be made safe? The answer is no. Nuclear power can never be made safe.

This was clearly explained by Admiral Hyman Rickover, the “father” of the U.S. nuclear navy and in charge of construction of the first nuclear power plant in the nation, Shippingport in Pennsylvania. Before a committee of Congress, as he retired from the navy in 1982, Rickover warned of the inherent lethality of nuclear power—and urged that “we outlaw nuclear reactors.”

The basic problem: radioactivity.

“I’ll be philosophical,” testified Rickover. “Until about two billion years ago, it was impossible to have any life on Earth; that is, there was so much radiation on earth you couldn’t have any life—fish or anything.” This was from naturally-occurring cosmic radiation when the Earth was in the process of formation. “Gradually,” said Rickover, “about two billion years ago, the amount of radiation on this planet…reduced and made it possible for some form of life to begin.”

“Now, when we go back to using nuclear power, we are creating something which nature tried to destroy to make life possible,” he said. “Every time you produce radiation” a “horrible force” is unleashed. By splitting the atom, people are recreating the poisons that precluded life from existing. “And I think there the human race is going to wreck itself,” Rickover stated.

This was Rickover, a key figure in nuclear power history, not Greenpeace. . . . . .

And FukuShima proves, again, that there are no plans in place in the event of meltdown, utter devastation, complete tragedy.

Etc.

I mean, I HATED the Yucca Mountain plan, and Obster canceled it (to help Reid get re-elected, of all damned, stupid dead end things), after how many fucking god damned millions, hundreds of millions invested, but if you are going to pursue building reactors, gotta do something with the waste.

that was pretty depressing …. I found myself immediatelly wondering about her disabled daughter when I read it. I certainly wouldn’t count on the current Administration to be working on policies which will ease the caretaking, they are too busy reinforcing Reaganism.

Oh…I hadn’t quite looked at it that way (though I see the argument for it) …I got all elaborate with it , and construed they realized that some asshole had tinkered with their lives (hybridizing) so much, that their nasal systems were all fucked up and deformed …and that they were gently touching each others noses in a mutal, gentle display of : This shit is really fucked up, isn’t it.

I am sure it is more complex than painted here (and i have a long abiding dislike of Shaitburger of the Firefighters’ Union) but it seems some big time union money noticed that the pretzel and other federal officials (congress) stood up for no one as the R hammer and chisel is slamming down in WI and Ohio and Indiana and so on…

Well Stern made public, on FOX News no less, comments to that effect (would be investing in local races and in strengthening union work, rather than the big quadrennial pushes) duriing the Kerry/Bush GE…Not the primaries when quite a few unions fell in with Howard, but in th GE.

Then I think some got suckered, to whatever level, by Foundling bullshite.. but hey, it did not work. And they’ve been shown now for months, Eat Shite and Die, but be sure to donate and work for us and vote for us. Etc.

Tipitina’s Foundation in New Orleans, raises money to provide instruments for musicians in need, especially those hit by tragedy. One of its beneficiary band programs is the Swing Dolphins of Kesennuma, Japan and the foundation recently received some very good news and videos from them!

After losing so much, including their instruments and rehearsal space, these young, dedicated and passionate musicians are now able to play again thanks to Tipitina’s Foundation and our generous supporters. Along with Yoshio and Keiko Toyama of the Wonderful World Jazz Foundation, they recently held their first concert since the Tsunami and earthquakes for some people in need of a musical reprieve.

This part is especially pissing me off right now:Beginning April 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of State will require the full names of the applicant’s parent(s) to be listed on all certified birth certificates to be considered as primary evidence of U.S. citizenship for all passport applicants, regardless of age. Certified birth certificates missing this information will not be acceptable as evidence of citizenship.

If this is so, my elder son will be imprisoned in this country forever. There is no father listed on his birth certificate.

You know the interesting thing tho, I had both a valid passport and an expired Cal ID (and what a fuckign struggle it was to get that in 2001 or whenever,…. and voer and over the ID wanted at process of applying for Medi-Cal as a second payer (it became a mess that I abandoned, a nightmre) and at a Pacific Medical Center check in at a clinic… they both watned the expired Cal ID.

They copied my current and valid passport but they preferred the expired Cal ID

That is insanity!! I started thinking about all of the places that I’ve lived in the past 45 years…shit, it took me almost 45 minutes just to think of them all!! This house I live in right now is the longest I have ever lived in one structure in my life…7 years. And my mother residence one year before my birth!? Whether or not she received pre-natal care?! The circumstances of my birth?! How the fuck should I know??

the shit gets more ominous by the day, love how (obviously) no one seemed aware that on February 24th, there was an online, 60 day ‘public comment request.’ Who the fuck searchs (or has the time, and/or ‘puter to) the Federal Register online daily, to search for ‘public comment request’ announcements, much other than the gophers of the elite? Why doesn’t the FCC (OUR Airwaves) require radio and television networks to notify of such “requested public response” to the governments “proposed regulations,” which effect the country at large? Why, never a newspaper article noting such? I’ve never seen one.

You must include the DS form number (if applicable), information collection title, and OMB control number in any correspondence.

presumably, April 25th was the last day for response (The Department will accept comments from the public up to 60 days from February 24, 2011.), though I read at one site that comments were being allowed through the 29th (extended?).

(why do I get the feeling Obombster just shared his birth certificate for the Birthers, in prep for this news ….See that, even Lord Shepicus provides his personal data to fight terrerism!)

that is interesting, and since it seems unnecessary, I guess all online are meant to go read it and haggle over it, through the election, …as “we” incarcerate, or bomb the fuck out of, anything that moves without a hall pass,….. so very fucked.

oh yeah, and how could I forget to note that there is no link on that comment request page, to the fucking proposal itself (in order to fucking comment on it), despite what would have been the absolute ease of doing so. Of course, they rightfully presume, the majority of commenters will be the ‘connected,’ not actually, We The People.

well it shows up, for the umpteenth time, just HOW they are all connected. As maintainers of the status quo. Ultimately, Statists.

For one, the ENTIRE nation wide and international bar for Immgration and US Citizen issues knew about this. ACLU, so many entities, they knew from minute one, from the tiem thsi was cooking on the stove.

In order for your child to be emolled in the 20112012
school year you will have to update your proof
ofresidence. Please bring in or send a copy to the
office, we will need one from each column below.
This needs to be done by the end ofthis school year.
Thank you all for your prompt attention. Any
questions please feel free to call me at the number
below.
·
Mortgage statement from the last

If a family is sharing housing ‘With,an
individual or family and does not pay rent
under Temporary Residence Form, the
family shall submit a utility bill in the name
of the person who owns or leases the
properly.

No worries — I am just so pissed off right now. I also got a letter about a field trip that they want to take the kids on to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory, which sounds awesome except for one thing:

It is 90 miles away!!!!! The letter says that they will be leaving the school at 8:15 am and returning at 2:40 pm. If the bus driver drives at 90 miles an hour (not bloody likely, more like a minimum 2 hour trip one way), that means that they will only be there for 2 hours!!

Oh, and get this! I can’t go because I haven’t filled out the district background check, even though I passed the STATE background check to be a teacher!! LOLOLOL!

This column was originally featured on CongressDaily/AM on April 19, 2011.

The problem with having three consecutive “wave” elections is that people tend to think that these aberrational elections are the norm.

In 2006, the Iraq War was at its lowest point, President George W. Bush’s Gallup job approval rating was 38 percent going into Election Day, and a series of congressional scandals buffeted the Republican Party, causing it to lose six Senate seats, 30 House seats and their majorities in both chambers.

Two years later, the financial crisis and a recession replaced Iraq as voters’ top concern, Bush’s Gallup approval ratings were down to 25 percent, and Republicans got hammered again, this time losing eight Senate and 21 House seats, dropping further into minority status in both chambers.

Last fall, Americans were unimpressed with President Obama’s economic stimulus package and reacted badly to both the cap-and-trade climate change proposal and the health care law. Obama’s Gallup approval rating went down to 45 percent, and Democrats lost six Senate seats and 63 House seats, costing them their majority in the lower chamber.

Each of these elections showed strong reactions by voters, specifically independent voters, and in no way resembled the previous five elections from 1996-2004. Wave elections are the exception. While something has made them occur more frequently lately, it still doesn’t make them normal.

We could have a fourth consecutive wave election in 2012, but the odds are against it.

{OOO THAT”S A KEEPER.}

But here is another theory building on the premise that the “new norm” is volatility, particularly among independent voters. 😆 After having vented at each of the two parties individually, what if voters decide to take out incumbents in a “pox on both your houses” election?

😆 Yeh, Charlie, untilthat Historic Election Night 2008.
What was the slobber then? Oh yeh – the impressive win was a sorta, Bi – Post Partisan Historic like, You know we DID see it coming ~thing, but WOW, Whooo! Why, We’d have to go back to the Election of, heck – Did I say WOW already?!?? ”

Anyways, as of today, cue obligatory CC Reverence for The Peepuhl ….conclusion.

Maybe the last three elections have encouraged us to think entirely too binary; that an election is either “0” or “1” and can’t be something else.

Maybe it could.

Washington should be afraid—very, very afraid.

NeW.
CHange.
Etc.

The thing is, see, Charlie does this shit, ah, like seriously, for a living, actually.
Of course he knows a complimentary buffet when he sees one.
::
::

For any American noticing the physical insertion of Racist Donald Trump Racist Racist into any less than guarded personal orifice, an awareness by the way that We are meant to be One with the One, ~True~ Obama, Teh Obama in His Heart the Obama NOT-OF Iraq Afghanistan Pakistan Libya, of Wall Street nor BP in the Gulf or GE of Fukishima the Presidents Economic Recovery Council, and the Cat Food Commission.

I just sat through it… Though I do have to say, if Jimmy the Greek can get fired for suggesting that African Americans were more naturally athletic because they were bred that way during slavery, it’s only fair for Donald Trump to get fired for suggesting that African Americans aren’t smart enough to get into Harvard.

While I almost never agree with Larry O’Dullard and his 15 minute whine to his employers was almost too uncomfortably stiff to even be funny, he has a point.

Oh I don’t disagree. It was pretty clear from Trump’s presser though that he was directly toting a racial tone. And further, it is very much perceived that way by a general audience. Given how the networks have dealt with this in the past [i.e. Jimmy the Greek & many, many others], I’m just saying it would be entirely consistent if he was fired.

I’d actually be interested to see the reasoning by network execs if they didn’t fire him.

Yes but. There are profiles running around ( I hve seen Romenesko quoted and I think the survey and percentages are theirs…now I have not read any of the media commentary sites in ages, so I don’t know how Romenesko comes at things anymore) that the single most coverage of “Birhter and Citizenship” issues was at MSNBC.

Ob and structure lived to keep this alive. What a con game on all sides.

IMO, and i have hated Trump since he tore the frescoes off the Bonwit Teller bldg in NYC… the racism, of which we have so very much in this country, is on both sides.

Anyway, Ob si profoundly inept or just screwy in any case. Even as he does the Neo Con Neo Lib bidding. But then he is disposable. I particularly think of when he became the personal, task dedicated pretzel for Henry Louis Gates.

Too much fucking time on his hands, and further, imo not a reader. Nor a thinker. You actually cannot fill your life with golf on military courses.

Don’t underestimate the feeblemindedness of those in the middle class and above. I actually think the popularity of golf could be graphed next to the stupification of the country & they would exactly mirror each other. 😉

the single most coverage of “Birhter and Citizenship” issues was at MSNBC.

Of course! This is why Maddow had to go into an elaborate defense tonight trying to distinguish ‘journalistic coverage’ from ‘pushing the agenda’. It had me ROLFLMAO.

Yes but again. FOr instance Imus, it was said and I would think the dollar amt somehwere inthe ball park, got a separation ssettlement of 20 million. I alsothought the huge reaction to what he did – and he had done that so many many many times, but always with a quick qualifier to dig himself out, for some reason he skipped the qualifier over the Rutgers women… anyway, I thought his removal stank to high heaven of a Hillary and Bill move, they were close with Kaplan, think his name was, at MSNBC. Then Corzine got involved and so on.

Oh it is. Strangely enough I wouldn’t be surprised if Olbemann was shown the door because he was too critical of the admin [despite being one of its biggest cheerleaders]. Maddow, while often critical, usually focuses more corporate/public entanglements, especially on the Republican side, which the party probably overlooks because most audiences wouldn’t take the extra step to associate with the Dems anyways.

Had forgotten about the whole Imus affair, and no doubt I’m sure Trump would get a similar settlement – if not more.

The whole thing is ridiculously fucked. I know you don’t even need to get me started on the media blackballing of anyone remotely critical of Israel. 😉

The Apprentice is on NBC. The question is has he already resigned a contract for the fall season. If he hasn’t I bet they would just let his contract lapse after the last episode sometime in May – and escape having to publicly posture about it [and save a bundle]. If he has, they would have to fire him & I’m sure that would entail a settlement.

Of course, in comics, Supes is the biggest and baddest illegal immigrant.

.Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of “truth, justice, and the American way,” from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the “American way” is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality.

The key scene takes place in “The Incident,” a short story in Action Comics #900 written by David S. Goyer with art by Miguel Sepulveda. In it, Superman consults with the President’s national security advisor, who is incensed that Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime, no doubt an analogue for the recent real-life protests in the Middle East. However, since Superman is viewed as an American icon in the DC Universe as well as our own, the Iranian government has construed his actions as the will of the American President, and indeed, an act of war.

Superman replies that it was foolish to think that his actions would not reflect politically on the American government, and that he therefore plans to renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations the next day — and to continue working as a superhero from a more global than national perspective. From a “realistic” standpoint it makes sense; it would indeed be impossible for a nigh-omnipotent being ideologically aligned with America to intercede against injustice beyond American borders without creating enormous political fallout for the U.S. government.

While this wouldn’t be this first time a profoundly American comic book icon disassociated himself from his national identity — remember when Captain America became Nomad? — this could be a very significant turning point for Superman if its implications carry over into other storylines. Indeed, simply saying that “truth, justice and the American way [is] not enough anymore” is a pretty startling statement from the one man who has always represented those values the most.

It doesn’t seem that he’s abandoning those values, however, only trying to implement them on a larger scale and divorce himself from the political complexities of nationalism. Superman also says that he believes he has been thinking “too small,” that the world is “too connected” for him to limit himself with a purely national identity. As an alien born on another planet, after all, he “can’t help but see the bigger picture.”

Meaningless in a world full of real problems, of course, but I expect a full week of screaming about it. At least a week.

So.

At Thursday's debate, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren defended their Medicare for All plan. They faced criticism from several rivals, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, who described it as a "bad idea," and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who claimed the bill shows Sanders and Warren do not "trust the American people."

At the third presidential primary debate in Houston, Texas, senator and 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Warren also spoke about her stance on U.S. trade policy and how "our trade policy in America has been broken for decades."

After being questioned about the crisis in Venezuela, Senator Bernie Sanders defended his vision of democratic socialism. "I agree with what goes on in Canada and in Scandinavia: guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right. I believe that the United States should not be the only major country on Earth not to provide paid family and medical le […]

Debate moderator Jorge Ramos of Univision grilled former Vice President Joe Biden over the Obama administration's deportation record. Biden refused to answer whether he did anything to prevent Obama from deporting a record 3 million people.

A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Friday demanded internal emails, detailed financial information and other company records from top executives of Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, and Alphabet Inc's Google, widening the antitrust probe of Big Tech.

U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Friday asked a government watchdog to look into the Trump administration's decision to launch an antitrust probe into four automakers cooperating with California on tighter greenhouse gas emissions limits that Trump is trying to eliminate.

A lawyer for former FBI official Andrew McCabe pressed U.S. prosecutors on Friday to drop their politically sensitive case against him, citing reports that suggest they may be having trouble securing criminal charges.

Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.